True Stories of Steamroller Love and Loss
Right before our Steamroller reissue this summer, we called out to the all the humanoids who have or had a Steamroller from the days of yore. We wanted to hear your Steamy stories and see how you’ve made these single-speed/fixed-gear bikes your own. You really delivered — we were wrong about you, and we’re sorry. Let’s all get sentimental for a minute:
This bike is a human powered masterpiece of simplicity. I rode my first single speed in Milwaukee back in 2024, flew home to Texas obsessed, and after digging deep I knew the only frame worth building on was the Steamroller. I scored a pristine, still boxed 2022 model on Marketplace — and now it’s my daily whip, welded to my soul.
–Matt Peyton
My ex's parents surprised me with a Steamroller frameset for my birthday in 2013.
I built it up with a Chris King headset, Thomson seatpost and stem, swept back bars, Continental super commuter tires of some variety, Surly x Velocity wheels, the OG Surly Dingle Speed cog, and a porteur front rack. My idea was to emulate the touring/porteuring rigs of old, before the modern derailleur was invented. I had it set up with 42/17 and 39/20 ratios, one for climbing and one for a faster pace.
This bike quickly became my do it all rig. I did some delivery work on it over the years, countless unsupported bike touring trips around the northwest. I rode from Seattle to Portland and back, up and down the Olympic Peninsula, Vancouver Island, and so many more incredible trips. Sleeping behind rural dive bars and in cow pastures, rain, sun, and studded tires for snow.
My time with my Steamroller was abruptly cut short while I worked as a chemist for an electroplating facility. It had limited bike storage so I would park my beloved Steamroller in our chemical warehouse where management wouldn't bother me about it. Alas one day that building caught fire. After two station alarms, a hazmat team, and a 20-hour shift, I discovered that the intense flames had actually melted my frame.
Although I received an insurance settlement for the loss of property, there is still a hole in my heart for the bike that brought me so much joy in such a turbulent time in my life.
–J. Kalin Puent
Yo, my steamy evolved into a Splitroller. Now it fits in an IKEA bag for traveling purposes. My man @oulufixed did the work!
–Matti Muikku
Way back in 2014-2015, the Steamroller was my dream bike. Being a broke bike mechanic working my way out of homelessness it seemed like a dream that would never be fulfilled. Until one day a friend of a friend who happened to be a frame builder heard I was looking for one.
He had one at his shop, but the top tube had been mangled and needed to be replaced. I jumped at the opportunity and on a whim I inquired about throwing in an extra top tube, just for fun. The cost was still less than a new frameset and I was sold.
I loved that bike and rode it for years. Through multiple configurations, jobs, and lifestyle changes, we rolled. I commuted on it. I rode it from Portland to the coast and on many overnight camping trips across pavement, gravel, and beyond. I loved showing it off on social group rides around the city. It was my most prized possession, though I rarely prize possessions.
One fateful day I was on my way to the local D.I.Y. bike collective to get it ready for a mountain biking session at one of the local trail networks. As I was crossing an intersection, after checking to make sure it was clear, a car that had been coming to a stop suddenly started accelerating again and the next thing I knew, I was on their hood and then on the ground.
I was barely injured, but the frame was totaled. Despite the added strength from the second top tube, the point and angle of the impact caused irreparable damage to the frame.
I don't know why I didn't immediately seek to replace it with another Steamroller. Either I had other projects brewing, or I didn’t have the funds, or maybe my heart was too broken about the loss of my one-of-a-kind frankenfixie...
Unfortunately, by the time I realized that the Steamroller was the ultimate in fixed gear all-round cycling, it had gone out of production. I still spend too much time searching for a used one being sold locally, but those who own one, tend to hold onto it, and I understand why.
–Tarv Just Is
I got this secondhand about a year ago with intention of getting active outside of work and immediately went to show my uncle who struggles with addiction who's a fixed gear fanatic, and he fell in love. He pulled out these Velocity hoops, saying “these will be perfect for it you got to build these as you’ll be able to do them justice.” I took them and started my search for hubs ended up finding NOS purple Halo track hubs on FB marketplace and took them to my LBS Allez LA for them to build up. Got the call they were done and went straight back to show him we spent hours taking everything off to clean and prep for the new wheelset, talking bikes and just shooting the shit lol...some of my most cherished memories I have with him.–Andrew Garza
For the last several years a Steamroller has been one of my primary steeds.
This bike has stayed with me through many moderate Mondays, fast Tuesdays, and poker rides, a trifecta of rides hosted by Gatos Racing Club here in Albuquerque. It’s ridden with me on social rides where we fill multiple lanes and fly down Route 66 together, to fast Tuesdays through the dead of winter where often it was just finding a partner who was willing to join me in the cold, or that got me off the warm comfort of the couch. It’s treated me well on various alleycats, chased roadies and gravel racers for miles on end, and was one of the bikes that I really started riding big routes on, kicking off a few wild years of riding brakeless bike packing on an original 1x1 rat ride.
This year, I snagged a very clean Steamroller that was much too large for me, but I saw an opportunity, to build it into something beautiful that someone would value as a forever bike.
The community here in Albuquerque that holds me up, and got me to where I am, is what got most of my bikes to where they are in one way or another, so I wouldn’t trade my Steamroller for a more curated build, and, when I put a bike I built from the frame up back into the community, or to someone looking for a community, my hope is that each one will be unmistakably unique, and mean something greater than a bike, but a tether to the place we exist in.
–Tilman Conway
I took a 2011 Meth Teeth Green Steamroller and gave her a much-needed glow-up. She's been a blast to restore and she's a beauty to cruise round on and is easily my favourite build ever for the simplicity and how jealous all my mates are
My favourite memory was when she was in the stand getting refurbed (pictured) and I was laughing so hard when I found out the colour from factory was 'Meth Teeth Green' on this frame I had been chasing for about six years. 🤣🤣
My pop now wants one as well so I'm keeping an eye out.
–Jordan
I still ride mine all the time. My 15-year-old son, who wasn’t born when this bike was built, rides it too — almost daily.
–Thad Aerts
My Steamroller was never the fastest bike I owned, but it may have been the one I loved the most. It carried groceries, books, bad ideas, and some of my best rides. It didn't care if the route was pavement, a rough alley, a gravel shortcut, or a curb that looked jumpable. It just kept rolling.
There was something honest about it. Steel frame, big tires, simple parts, no fuss. Every ride felt connected. Every hill felt earned. Every descent felt like freedom. A lot of bikes have come and gone over the years, but the Steamroller always felt like a bike I'd still be riding twenty years later.
–Gary Bains
This is my Steamroller I purchased in 2008 while working at a shop in Ohio. Now she lives the fancy California Bay Area life. She's been through many configurations through the years, but my favorite has been this tracklocross setup. Thank you all for making amazing bikes and being more amazing humans.
–Donal Pugh
I bought a Steamroller while studying in uni and it was the bike that kept me sane. It got me out of the house, I learned some fun tricks and made friends while out riding it — everything you want from a bike!
My best memory with it was meeting a friend in a parking garage to film a short video riding the bike. We still keep in touch!
Anyway, love your work, keep it up.
–Evan Mant
I love the Steamroller and built mine up with various parts and have had fun changing out handlebars and parts over the years for whatever the path I was on. Such a fun, snappy, versatile bike that has taken me a lot of places in multiple states. From city streets, commuting, or gravel, this is the bike! It really helped me find my identity as a rider and now I only ride Surly! I just built a Preamble up and am freaking loving it!
Thanks for making fun, unique bikes that provide endless excitement!
–Evan Krupa
The Steamy was my oldest material possession and we went through some shit. It was my daily commuter for years. From Brakeless fixed-gear with 25c tyres to two-braked single speed with 35c tyres and everything in between. From five-mile sprints to work to scenic mixed-terrain 80-milers.
We had several crashes, bent forks, destroyed wheelsets ,and heated confrontations but mostly it was smooth-rolling bliss on the road and off.
In 2020, I had to throw it over a 8' chain link fence as I fled a swarm of riot police at a racial justice protest.
In 2021 it was stolen from my shed. The next day my wife was driving me to the beer store so I could drown my sorrows and we saw the thief with my bike. I jumped out and ran across four lanes of rush hour traffic to confront him with no plan. I just said,
“That’s my fucking bike!”
“What dude?”
“That’s my fucking bike!”
“Ha ha sure. No it's not.”
“That’s my fucking bike!”
“I just bought it.”
“I don’t care. That’s my fucking bike.”
and then he slowly got off my bike and handed it to me.
“Take your fucking bike, then.” And so I did.
-“foulweatherpress”
Too many memories looking back at these shots. Size 53cm, in Drink More Water Yellow. Gone through many different setups, loved every single one.
–Andrea
In June of 2022, after owning a Surly Straggler for three summers, I was out to seek new thrills. Inspired by brakeless fixed gear riders, I set out to build a Steamroller with an aggressive 50T track chainring from Ukraine, Nitto flat bars, and a Chris King headset and a Thomson seat post. To this day, I will never forget the first day I took the front brake off and rode around Richmond, Virginia with some seasoned riders down a sequence of very large downhills. My Steamroller taught me respect for brakeless fixed gear riding and nothing brings me more freedom and thrill than to ride it around town.
– Илья Hоиков
No story, I just ride the shit out of it all over Arkansas.
–Mark Sniff
I've used this bike for all sorts of things. I've had my first alleycat win on this bike, taken it to a hill climb win at the WISE messenger championships in Liverpool last summer, podiums and a win at ECMC 2025, three podiums and an overall second place at the inaugural Scottish Tracklocross Championships, and a win in the impromptu Red Lion Alleycat at CMWC 2026.
This bike is the best fixed gear I've ever had the pleasure of riding, albeit steel, my favourite frame material, it's significantly lighter than a lot of similar frames I've ridden, and just feels right.
–Craig Stewart
One thing that I keep coming back to is how much I loved commuting on my Steamroller. It was fast, nimble, and fucking RAD! I could often get from one place to another faster than my friends could in their cars on that thing. I loved that bike. I once linked together all the longer road rides in the area and turned it into my own little fixie century ride on that bike. This was easily the bike I’ve spent the most time on in my entire life. It was my commuter for the five years that I had it. It was also my “let’s go mash around the streets of Pueblo all night with nothing more than a couple of Knog Frogs to light the way” bike. This bike meant the absolute world to me and is the one bike that I can say after 15+ years of being a bike mechanic and being in the industry, that I truly regret getting rid of.
Now that I’m back to this version of life where bikes are my everything, I’m actively on the hunt for a Steamroller again.
–Andrew L Washburn
I loved my Steamroller more than any other bike, traveled all over the country with it. Tragically it was killed last year when I was hit by a car. I still think about that bike to this day, hoping a new one will come out soon!! Here are some of my favorite photos of it!!
–Tom Laskowski
I might’ve deleted any photos I had of my Steamroller, but it was my first Surly.
I bought it after selling my road bike that I had bought for commuting. All the gears and extra components were annoying for city use, especially as a beginner cyclist, and the tires were too narrow, I would flat and damn near go over the bars on small potholes.
When I started riding the Steamroller all of that changed. I could actually work on my own bike without knowing hardly anything and I could ride it every single day with barely any maintenance.
I rode that bike for a few years delivering for Jimmy John’s and eventually relinquished to the fact that it was a bit too small for me. Cut to five Surlys later and I’m still rocking the brand in my own way. With a recent custom Ogre build and my trusty Wednesday I have most riding covered, but I do still dream about my Steamroller….
I miss the way a fixed gear and a steel frame ebb and flow together. It’s a magical feeling.
–Cole Mumme
Feeling like you need a Steamroller now? Check in with your local bike shop, or stay tuned to this channel…